How can one ensure proper functionality when using PHP functions within a forum board?

To ensure proper functionality when using PHP functions within a forum board, it is important to sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection attacks and other security vulnerabilities. This can be done by using functions like mysqli_real_escape_string() or prepared statements to handle user input safely.

// Example of sanitizing user input using mysqli_real_escape_string()
$input = $_POST['user_input'];
$sanitized_input = mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $input);